While the tournament may be the hockey equivalent of an off Broadway play (taking place as it does in the relative anonymity that seems to be the trademark of Switzerland) it was centre stage accolades for Team Canada on Monday.

The Canadian squad which was made up of mostly European based mercenaries toiling away for club teams on the continent, proved to be a dominant group over the course of the hectic six day tournament.

Joseph held down the fort in the Canadian goal allowing only one second period goal to get behind him, while Kirby Law and Ryan Keller scored the necessary Canadian goals to secure the win. All the scoring took place in a frantic second period of play in which lucky breaks and a few bounces proved to be the difference on the scoreboard for Canada.

It was Canada's 11th victory in the 81 years of the Spengler Cup, their first since 2003. All of Canada's achievements have come since 1984 the first year that a Canadian team competed for the Christmas week tournament.

For some it's a chance to remind the folks back home that they're still playing hockey, sometimes lost in the shadows of the European leagues, for others like Joseph it's the opportunity to regain a profile for NHL GM"s, considering Cujo's run of success in Davos, somewhere in the 30 team NHL you would think is a team willing to give him another look and shore up a shaky goal tending situation.

Some might even suggest that he might not even have to take off that Maple leaf from the front of his chest, just change the colour of the sweater to be of assistance!

It's traditional in many parts of North America that the first day of the New Year is greeted with a polar bear swim, where hearty souls jump into a lake, harbour or river for a brief invigorating splash and then dash.

The two teams have been preparing as best they can for such an experience, perhaps trying on the latest inStanfields and ordering in those heated therma bladessuddenly all the rage, rewiring them for a more all encompassing glow.

The game which has been in the preparation stages for a few weeks now will be played on a finely crafted sheet of ice, which has been undergoing the kind of attention that most Canadians would understand from their days of outdoor rink making. Layer upon layer of ice is almost in the final stage for the outdoor spectacular, which now is left in the hands of Mother Nature.

During that game it was said that the best seat in the house was the one on the bench beside the heaters, it very well may be the in demand seat once again on Tuesday when the Pens and Sabres take to the ice at the largest neighbourhood rink in Buffalo.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Canada can still gain a bye into the semi finals of the World Junior Championships, but it will take a little help from the Czechswho will need to defeat the Swedes by five goals or less. Should the Czechs win by six or more they’ll advance to the semis, while the Swedes can move forward with a win over the Czechs.

Canada for its part will also need to take care of their own end of the competition on Monday, when they take to the ice against Denmark.

The Danes have been kind of like cannon fodder for the other World Junior participants, giving up fifteen goals thus far compared to just three of their own. So the possibility of an upset against an obviously angry Canada seems remote.

But, you just never know when a team is going to step up and have the game of their lives. However, the odds most certainly must be stacked against the lads from Copenhagen and beyond.

Canada received the ultimate in wake up calls on Saturday as they let an early lead turn into a shocking 4-3 loss, made even more dispiriting over the way that they seemingly just changed their game plan and allowed far too much flow to come from the Swedish side.

Upon that loss we suggested here that perhaps it was something that Canada needed to refocus on the job at hand. Rather than live off the streak and the platitudes of the talking heads and print side cheerleaders that had seemed to have almost already awarded the gold medals, the Canadian kids can now reclaim the tournament as theirs, not that of their predecessors.

They can make the first statement towards that goal on Monday against Denmark, an unfortunate experience we suspect for tne Danes who have had a rough go of it so far this month, but there will be no time for compassion now.

Canada needs to get their game back on track and Denmark will provide the sparring partner for what now appears to be a much needed tune up session, one that hopefully prepares this team for the bigger matches yet to come!

The Caps who seem to bring out their best games when they play the Sens took a commanding 3-1 lead in the second over the Sens, as Ovechkin showed why he’s considered one of the most exciting players in hockey these days.

The Senators while launching a comeback of sorts seemed at times to be ready to sit down in the crowd and watch Ovechkin as well, as he held a clinic of puck control and pinpoint shooting. Their efforts on the night did not impress head coach John Paddock very much, who described his teams performance as ridiculous.

By the time the game had come to an end the score was a tad more respectable at 8-6, with seven goals scored in the final twenty minutes, but that did not particularly reflect the flow of the play. The Capitals were by far the more impressive team on the night, jumping out to a quick two goal lead and then not panicking when the Sens got close.

Ovechkin’s five point night will be something that the Ottawa fans will be buzzing about for a while; it may even have overtaken the Ray Emery sideshow of the last few days.

In fact, Emery is either being eased back into the swing of things or is really in the dog house, as Paddock left Martin Gerber in the nets to face all 29 Capital shots, surrendering 7 of the eight goals, the final one an empty netter for the proficient Mr. Ovechkin.

By the time the third period had reached the midway point, Gerber probably was wondering what he had to do to get out off the firing lines. While Emery was probably trying to be as invisible as possible at the end of the Sens bench.

Saturday provided a wake up call for the members of Canada’s world junior squad, that hard work will trump reputation when the time comes.

Perhaps it was all that talk about the “streak”, going for the blackjack as the folks on TSN said early Saturday, an almost pre-ordained destiny for Canada of waltzing through another world championship tournament.

While they will no doubt claim that they were paying no heed to all of that, Saturday resting on your laurels proved to be costly. The Swedes who slowly began to take over the flow of the game by the second period turned a third period blitz into victory as they scored a last second goal to avoid overtime and claim a regulation time victory 4-3 over a shocked looking Canadian squad.

Canada were the authors of their own misfortune on Saturday, having jumped into an early lead they allowed some sloppy play to bring the Swedes back into the game. Penalty trouble would give the Swedes a goal and some momentum, while the Canadians were lucky to pick up a goal on a controversial five on three situation.

At that point it appeared that they had once again rescued themselves from a near disaster, slowly finding their footing again, only to see things turn around with a terrible giveaway in the neutral zone that led to the final and go ahead goal with just seconds to go in the game.

As the Swedes celebrated their win, Canada could finally lay to rest a number of elephants in the room, the undefeated string stretching back to 2005, the shutout hockey that they had guarded thus far and the sense of invincibility that finally was knocked down on Saturday.

By no means is it the worst thing that could have happened to what are still just teenagers, it could prove to be the lesson that they needed to be taught that there is hard work involved on the way to a championship.

Craig Hartsburg could caution them as much as possible, but until they learned it on the ice they may never have believed it.

Rather than taking the short course to the championship round they’ll have to watch the scoreboard and perhaps have to fight their way to it, they begin the process next with a game against Denmark, a team that you probably wouldn’t want to be a member of going up against Canada.

They’ll be angry with themselves, perhaps disappointed in their play, but if they learn from the lesson in the long term it could be the most important moment for Canada in this tournament.

"You don't get into rhythm by playing games. This isn't house league."--Ottawa Senators head coach John Paddock

Things appear to be on the boil in Ottawa these days as Ray Emery once again finds himself under the microscope after a couple of interesting incidents during practice time in Kanata.

Judging by the theatrics of the last few days, it would seem that Emery isn’t particularly partial to practicing and isn’t finding his status as second choice on the bench to his liking either.

Relegated to spot duty of late, media reports had Emery lashing out at some unfortunate water bottles on Thursday during the Sens practice and then reporting with just minutes to go on Friday.

The Friday situation resulted in his being sent home, owing to illness according to the press release out of the Sens offices.

Emery who was the go to guy during last years Stanley Cup run, was still recovering from wrist surgery at the start of the season and has been plagued by minor injuries and conditioning concerns during the first months of the season.

While he has found occasional nights in the nets this year, for the most part the call has gone to Martin Gerber who has quickly won the support of his Senator team mates who have said as much in recent days as the Emery outbursts became better known.

By Friday afternoon, the Toronto radio stations and sports networks based out of that city were rubbing their hands in glee with an apparent controversy percolating in the capital. Panel discussions weighed the pros and cons of cutting the Sens goaltender loose and contemplated how big a distraction it all may prove to be for the Sens currently riding a hot streak atop the Eastern Conference.

There hasn’t been much made out of the outburst in Ottawa itself, the players seemingly circling the wagons and keeping their comments close to the dressing room, with the occasional nod in favour of Gerber who has simply just gone out and done his job night after night.

The unsaid suggestion (and in a few cases the openly stated commentary) is that if Emery wants to get back to his form of last year, he needs to put in the effort on the ice. Something that apparently won’t be accomplished by knocking water bottles around and showing up late for practice.

If he's indeed trying to force the Sens hand into a trade situation as some suggest, he's probably approaching it all wrong. Besides looking out of shape and not very sharp on the ice, he's developing a bit of troublesome reputation, something that many GM"s may wish to pass on.

At the start of the year many suggested that Ottawa was going to have a problem in the nets this year, with two quality goaltenders needing plenty of ice time. Originally it was surmised that Gerber was going to be the one to be moved, but as the season has progressed and with the recent excitement that dynamic may have changed.

It might be better to quietly go about getting back into that playoff form of last year and then the Senators might be able to accommodate him, more importantly the phone calls will be a lot easier to make if he's concentrating on hockey and not hissy fits.

Like many good Quebecois, the Montreal Canadiens seemed to find the Florida climate agreeable this time of the year.

Montreal spent the last few days in Florida and by the time it came to pack up and head back north, they had not only found time to work on their tans, but to pick up some points in the NHL standings as well.

.Thursday night they picked up five goals at the expense of the Tampa Bay Lightning as they totally dominated the Bolts 5-2, Friday night it was on to South Florida and an appearance before the largest crowd in Panther history at Bank Atlantic Centre, where they once again put five goals in the net, and worked on their defence by surrendering only one on the way to a 5-1 victory.

Ten goals in two nights and an offensive explosion that suddenly has the team of Koivu and Huet playing like Richard and Worsley.

The Florida sweep improved their road record on their current road trip to 3-1-1 with one game left on Sunday in New York to play the Rangers.

The Florida swing has been almost like a night at the Bell Centre, with friendly crowds, boisterous in nature and seemingly weighted in favour of Les Habs, complete with the farewell song traditional at Montreal home games.

One thing is certain; Montreal fans at least have the right idea when it comes to following the team on the road. Rather than trek across the hinterlands to Toronto, Ottawa, Detroit and west, they head straight for the sun.

After all, with sixty minutes of cheering out of the way, nothing beats checking out the Miami night life and then heading for the beach the next day.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Colorado Avalanche fans have found that the Christmas cheer has quickly gone out of the season as word was released on Thursday that Avalanche captain Joe Sakic will have hernia surgery on Friday and may miss up to twelve weeks of action.

Sakic was sidelined Dec. 1 at Los Angeles because of a groin problem and when the situation did not respond to treatment further examination was called for, which resulted in the diagnosis of a hernia and the need for surgery to repair the problem.

Now that he's expected to be out for such a long period of time, the Avalanche have some thinking to do, whether they seek out an experienced hand to tide them over or let the younger players try to carry the load of the missing captain.

They could apply to the NHL for relief from the salary cap, teams can apply for relief for a player out more than 10 consecutive games or 24 days.

The team can exceed the cap up to the amount of the injured player's salary and by using as any replacement players as it wants for that period.

Many might suggest that it will take more than a few players to provide the kind of leadership and impact that Sakic delivered prior to his injury.

With 120 minutes of play now under their belts and no goals against, Team Canada takes a well deserved break on Friday, ready to rest up and then prepare for Saturday's match with Sweden at the World Junior Hockey Championships.

Thursday saw Canada take on Slovakia in a game that seemed to feature the referees as much as it did the players.

Some unusual calls dominated the flow of the game, with sure fire penalty worthy calls going unseen while other questionable calls resulted in penalties for both teams.

The keys for Canada on Thursday were the play of Steve Mason with a 22 save shut out performance and the scoring touch of Kyle Turris, who scored both of Canada's goal on the way to their second victory of the tournament so far.

With the win, Canada now can count 20 consecutive wins at the World Junior Championships, a total which includes eight shut outs and 91-20 Goals for and against ratio over that period of time.

They can continue to add to their amazing statistical package on Saturday when they meet up with the Swedes who are 1 and 1 so far in the opening round of the tournament.

Thursday nights NHL match up between the Canucks and Flames did not suffer from the turkey dinner induced lethargy of many of the other games of the last few days.

While other teams exhibited signs of mentally still unwrapping their gifts, the Canucks and Flames just took to the ice much like they have over the last many years, ready to hit, ready to shoot and on this particular night ready, oh so ready to score..

Eight goals were scored between the puck drop and the final whistle, a fast moving show of end to end action and crushing checks. The game featured the most unlikely event of Calgary goaltender Mikko Kiprusoff being chased from the game early in the third period having given up five goals on just 19 shots, a most unusual performance from the normally solid Kipper.

His replacement for the rest of the night was Curtis McElhinney, who managed to hold the Canucks off the score sheet for the rest of the night as they found that their five goals were enough to withstand an attempted Calgary comeback.

For Vancouver, the possibility of the future mimicking the past is off to a good start, it was one year ago that the Canucks turned the post Boxing Day mark as the beginning of a run for their playoff aspirations.

Something that they no doubt hope will repeat itself as they prepare to welcome in 2008.

The lure of potentially millions of hockey fans taking time with their families is proving to be too much for the CBC which has scheduled a rare mid week double header for Hockey Night in Canada on Thursday night.

With Canadians waking up early to watch the World Juniors and spending the afternoon catching up with the Spengler Cup, the CBC is hoping that they let the network provide the nightcap on a full day of hockey for the Great White North.

The second match of the double header should prove to be an entertaining game with Vancouver and Calgary squaring off at 10 pm ET, 7 PT. The Canucks and Flames always provide an energetic game and with the Flames riding a wave of success of late they should be in fine spirits as the take to the GM Place ice.

John Tavares provided the bulk of the scoring and Jonathan Bernier provided 44 saves to lead Team Canada to their first win and the beginning of their defence of the World Junior Championship.

Tavares who was featured on five of the Canadian power plays scored two of Canada's three goals on the day, more than enough to defeat the hose Czech Republic 3-0 at opening day in Pardubice.

The Canadians who played a little tentative in the early going, never seemed to be in any danger of losing control of the game once they jumped out to a 1-0 lead, able to combine their trademark physical play with some exciting offence and solid deensive play, it was the kind of game that they needed to play to get the tournament under way and their heads into the task at hand.

And while Tavares, the young star of the Oshawa Generals making his World Juniors debut is finding that the ice may not be what he is used to in the OHL, he's making the best of it when coach Craigh Hartsburg calls his name.

Matthew Halischuk scored the third Canadian goal, while highly touted draft possibility Steve Stamkos picked up three assists, something that surely won't hurt his stock for this springs amateur draft.

Canada has the short schedule on Thursday, having to be ready to face off against Slovakia early in the day, 17 hours after they played the Czechs.

The second game of the tournament for Canada starts at 9:30 am EST making for an early wake up call for those on the West coast where hockey will lead into breakfast at 6:30 am..

Canada once again takes to the ice at Davos, Switzerland for the annual Club team championship, Canada's team is comprised mainly of Canadians playing hockey for European club teams with a few notable additions.

This year, Team Canada features Curtis Joseph as their highlight reel addition, as the former NHLer takes to the nets to help out in the quest of the Spengler.

We'll track the scores on this page as well as provide links to interesting items of note.

The World Junior Championships is a uniquely Canadian celebration, while it is held in Europe and the USA from time to time, nowhere does it receive the attention that it does in Canada.

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For a good portion of the games we are about to watch in the next two weeks there will be countless rows of empty seats, the thrill of sitting through qualifying rounds and then elimination rounds seemingly not always high on the agenda for a good number of European and American fans.

Which is why the World Juniors seem to return to Canada more and more often, where the guarantee of a complete media attention and sold out rinks gives the tournament a lustre here that doesn't seem to be possible elsewhere.

With many Canadians in holiday mode over Christmas and New Years, the time is perfect for the tournament to dominate the TSN schedule which treats the event like a Stanley Cup final and receives those kind of audience numbers when the television ratings come out.

Since TSN took over the broadcasting of the tournament back in 1991 the brand has grown through the years, regularly delivering huge crowds to the network and its sponsors. Though there are hiccups that occassionaly lay waste to the best of plans.

Should Canada stumble and find itself eliminated from the Gold Medal game TSN will probably take a bath in the ratings, as Canada's bandwagon jumping hockey fans seek out other activities on January 5th. But if the Red and White is on the ice, the fans will be on the couch, sponsor's brands in hand and eyes glued to TSN ready to celebrate yet another gold for Canada's junior program.

And that in a nutshell is the highwire act that is coach's corner, the weekly soap box for Don Cherry that occassionally strays off the hockey topic threatening all with reprimands or possible unemployment.

William Houston of the Globe and Mail provided a Coles Notes of sorts review of this weeks installment, a first intermission feature that seemed to find the "coach" in an ornery mood, made worse by his sidekick Ron McLean's introduction of a number of items into the agenda, items which it would appear seemed to annoy Cherry to the point of wanting to end the segment more than a few minutes early (anybody have some spare Peter Puck items for filler?)

From an incident in the Ottawa Chicago game, through the Chris Simon stomping, to Ted Nolan's contemplations of racism again rearing its head, the whole five minutes or so seemed to be veering towards a train wreck. It seemed that the fact that time ran out seemingly kept things from getting worse and possibly keeping the CBC from having to sort out the fall out from the public.

It's a double edged sword that segment, we're never really sure where the program is going to head and sometimes it touches raw nerves, and while Cherry and McLean do seem to rub each other the wrong way from time to time, you always sense it's part of the shtick.

Saturday you kind of got the feeling that may not have been the case this time around.

Despite holding a 3-1 lead at one point, the Ottawa Senators couldn't find any insurance markers against Nikolai Khabibulin who closed the door once his Chicago Black Hawks pulled even with the Sens on Saturday night.

A disappointing finish for the 20,171 who gathered to provide the largest crowd of the year at Scotiabank Place, a crowd that at one point felt as thought two points were the home sides, until the Sens allowed coach Denis Savard a happy homecoming with an impresive come from behind victory.

The Hawks made the best of their power play opportunities as undisciplined play from the Sens came back to haunt them, those opportunities and some missed chances for Dany Heatley who was matched by Khabibulin almost shot for shot during the game, Heatley had more than enough chances to pick up a third goal for a hat trick, but the Chicago goaltender wasn't in the mood to assist Heatley in his task for the night.

Instead he provided enough time for the Hawks to battle back and take two points out of Ottawa purely from hard work and a little bit of luck.